Articles by Jamie Reed

Jamie Reed is member of parliament for Copeland. He is shadow minister for health and writes The Last Word column on Progress

Labour’s stance on Trident is clear, again —Last month (October), new shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith recommitted Labour to maintaining its long-standing policy in favour of maintaining Trident, our national nuclear deterrent. With it, she restated Labour’s support for the building of the new Vanguard submarines upon which the deterrent will depend. In these grim times, …

One day, parliamentary democrats will win the battle for Labour, writes Jamie Reed It has been an exceptional year for the Labour party. Only 12 months ago, faced with a Conservative majority government for the first time in a generation, the party sought to chart a new path as it struggled to learn the lessons of its …

great adjective of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above average of ability, quality or eminence, considerably above average Today, politicians of every party are trying to comprehend the incomprehensible following the death of Jo Cox. Members of parliament new and old did not need to know Jo well to know her works. Politicians are …

As the finish line for the European Union referendum approaches, politicians of all stripes have reached out to strange and stranger-still bedfellows to coalesce around one of two poles: in or out. It was strange to see George Galloway and Nigel Farage make common cause. Stranger still to witness Gisela Stuart and Michael Gove campaigning …

The vivid memory of fear is enough to terrify the human soul. Memories of mortal terror – like watching ‘The Exorcist’ for the first time through the fingers of your hand as a twelve year old – are capable of firing the adrenal medulla and provoking our most basic evolutionary response: fight or flight? It …

Good politicians are capable communicators. Without the ability to effectively communicate, political ideas cannot be properly expressed or understood; political arguments cannot be fought and won. The ability to communicate well is fundamental to political success. It follows then, that language – political language, how it is used and the context in which it used – …

Boris Johnson has unique political gifts. Fortunately, being unique does not also make these gifts useful, desirable or of particular public value. In truth, Johnson’s most consistent gift has been the gift of ‘getting away with it’. Such a gift has little political value other than to the individual in possession of it. Johnson has …

Long-suffering readers will be familiar with my affection for the Simpsons, in particular the political genius that is Mayor ‘Diamond’ Joe Quimby. During these wild times in the Labour party, the mind can occasionally drift to Quimby’s office. For the benefit of my more literalist Twitter followers, that’s a metaphor. A metaphor is a figure …

Pain, progress and pioneers The Last Word is back! This time with 20 per cent more intellectual content, a 10 per cent reduction in sarcasm and no mention of Super Tuesday. Burn after reading But a word of warning. Before you read further, I’m currently 100/1 on Skybet (I’m told) to become the next prime …

The publication of Margaret Beckett’s report into Labour’s most recent general election failure presents a useful lacuna in the party’s struggle to understand the latest rejection by the British people at the ballot box. Useful, but by no means exhaustive, the ‘Learning the Lessons from Defeat Taskforce Report’ confirms what those of us on the …